Stephen Harper says Mike Duffy's Senate expenses 'could not be justified'

Conservative Leader Stephen Harper was met in Vancouver with questions about Senator Mike Duffy's ineligible expenses,despite beinga long distance away from Ottawa, where Nigel Wright, hisformer chief of staff,gave much-anticipated testimony incourt on Wednesday.

Duffy, whose trial resumed Wednesday,has pleaded not guilty to 31 charges of fraud, breach of trust and bribery related to expenses he claimed as a senator and later repaid with$90,000 he received from NigelWright.

• Nigel Wright says he had 'obligation' to pay Mike Duffy's expenses
• VIDEO | Peter Mansbridge reports onNigel Wright's rise to power
• Read theemails filedin court by the Crown on Wednesday
• Read theemailsfiledby theRCMPin 2013

Harper was asked why he didn't know that Wright was the one who repaid Duffy's ineligible expenses."Mr. Duffy came to me and I said to him that his expenses in my judgment could not be justified. You could not justify claiming expenses you did not actually incur regardless of what the rules were," Harper said.

"Mr. Wright was obviously speaking to Mr. Duffy and had indicated to me that Mr. Duffy would repay those expenses, which is exactly what Mr. Duffy told the Canadian public," Harper said.

Wright told the RCMP during the course of its investigation in 2013 the prime ministerwas made aware on Feb. 22, 2013, that Duffy had agreed to repay his ineligible expenses, but not that the $90,000 was comingfrom his personal savings.

But anemailfrom Wright to Benjamin Perrin, Harper'slegal counsel, which came to light in courtdocumentshas raised more questions than it has answered to date.

Led to believe Duffy would 'repay': Harper

"I do want to speak to the PMbefore everything is considered final,"Wright said in an email to Perrin and others in the Prime Minister's Office.Less than an hour later, Wright wrote, "We are good to go from the PM."

On Wednesday, Harper maintained that it was his understanding that Duffy would be made to repay his ineligible expenses not that Wright would pay them for him.

"I did not believe Mr. Duffy's expenses could be justified and I thought he should repay them. And Mr. Wright was working with Mr. Duffy to make sure he did repay them. That's what we were told was going to happen.

"When I found out that is not what happened, that in fact they had been repaid back by somebody else, we made that information public and I took the appropriate action against people who were involved in that," Harper said in Vancouver.

In fact, Harper made it public once it had been reported in the news. And whileHarper initially told the House of Commons that Wright had "offered his resignation" and that he'd accepted it,in a radio interview months later, Harper flip-flopped and said Wright had been "dismissed."

On Wednesday, Wright told an Ottawa courtroom hefelt hehad "an obligation" to follow through on an initial plan to see Duffy repay his expenses, which included having the Conservative Party repay approximately one-third of the amount.

"I lived to regret that decision," Wrightsaid in court.

'Good to go with what?': Mulcair

Wright's testimony inOttawagave federal party leaders on the campaign trail plenty of ammunition against the Conservative leader on day 11 of the federal election campaign.

On Wednesday afternoon,NDP Leader Tom Mulcair said there was still a gaping hole betweenHarper's explanation of what he knewand testimony heard from Wright in court today.

"Good to go with what?" Mulcair asked during a mid-afternoon campaign stopin Quebec City.

"What we saw today and heard today was NigelWright saying that Mike Duffy never had any intention of reimbursing his own expenses."

Mulcair urgedHarper to come clean onwhat he knew ofco-ordinated efforts between senior members of his staff and Conservatives in the Senateto alter a final report into Duffy's ineligible expenses after the Crown introduced hundreds of emails in court. The RCMP filed many of those same emails in court in 2013.

A final Senate reportinto Duffy's expenseswas amended from its original draft version to be less critical of the senator.

"What we learned also today, according to the emails that were brought into court, was that there was interference in the reports of the Senate by the Prime Minister's Office something that they tried to deny all along," Mulcair said.

"There is still a lot ofexplainingto do."

Remove LeBreton: Liberals

Justin Trudeau's Liberals also pointed to email exchanges laid out in court as proofthe Prime Minister's Office was involved in "ascheme to obscure the public's knowledge of details on how Mike Duffy was abusing taxpayer money."

In a news release issued after Wright was finished testifying for the day, Liberals called on Harper to remove retired senator Marjory LeBreton from his campaign.

LeBreton, who is currently working as a senior adviser on Harper's election campaign,was one of several key Conservative senators named in the email exchanges.

During an afternoon campaign event in La Ronge, Sask.,Trudeausaid that Wright's testimony showed there was a "level ofinterferenceand control" of the Senate leadership bythe PMO.

"Any fiction that Mr. Harper has tried to push that the Senate is somehow an independent bodyhas been completely... shown to be wrong."

Earlier in the day,Trudeauaccused Harper of looking out for his party's own interests rather than following through with Senate reform.

"What we're going to see in the coming days out ofOttawa is what happens when a governmentbecomes more focused on its own survivalthan on serving Canadians the best possible way," he said fromRegina.

"We cannot believe this prime minister when it comes to promises around the Senate or democratic reform," Trudeau said.

While there are currently22 vacancies in the 105-seat Senate,Harperannounceda week before the federal electionwas calledthat he won't be filling any moreSenate vacanciesuntil reforms are made.

ButAnizAlani, a Vancouver lawyer, is calling on Harper to askthe Supreme Court of Canadawhether a moratorium on Senate appointments is constitutional.

Earlier in the day, Mulcairwas in Lvis, Que., where the party wants to hold and increase its record 54 seats won inthe 2011 election.

"NigelWright might be on the witness stand, but it's Stephen Harper who'son trial," Mulcair said.

The NDP leaderlisted a number of allegations against Conservative Party politicians and aides, and said Canada can't afford to re-elect Harper.

Mulcairiscalling for abolitionof the Senate and said today a fourth Conservative mandate would invite more scandal.

While in Vancouver, Harpermade a campaign pledge to help homeowners purchase their first house.

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